Chapter 3
Chapter Three
MELINDA
Ugh, I hate people.
I did such a people-y job for someone that hated people. I was glad when my shift was finally over.
The campus was buzzing with a weird energy, but I was too tired to even care what it was about.
It usually ended up being about some kind of party, and I just wasn’t in the mood for the party scene.
I could do with getting drunk and forgetting all my life problems that sounded like a really good shout.
The sad fact was after all this; the routine would begin again.
I took a bite of my noodles as I read through the reading for the next lecture. I wanted to try and keep on top of my university work before I got bogged down with work.
The front door opened and closed. “Roman you’re overreacting,” I heard mum’s voice float through the hallway.
Oh, great.
“You’re under-reacting.”
“How was work?” I looked to see mum standing against the counter directing her question at me. Roman was standing next to her.
“Fine. I suddenly lost my appetite.” I stood up putting the bowl in the sink.
“Melinda, please,” mum said.
I reached for my university work and pushed past both of them. I had no time for either of them. A hand grabbed onto my wrist. I turned to find Roman holding onto it. “Let go of my wrist,” I snapped.
“You need to stop being such a bitch to your mother,” Roman ordered. “She did what she could to survive.”
I laughed. “Father of the year, huh? Calling your daughter a bitch isn’t an award I’d want in my trophy case.
” I couldn’t help but shake my head. “It isn’t your credit she ruined.
It isn’t your life that she’s put on pause because you left.
I’m glad we live in England where they don’t punish you for getting higher education and provide tuition money, grants, and loans.
I’m still working my arse off. I’m not going to accept your money because you feel guilty about leaving her. ” I pointed to my mum.
“It wasn’t all that rosey where I was,” Roman snapped.
I spun around looking at him with disgust. “Because, as always, it’s all about you!” I squeezed my eyes shut as the memories of my mum on the floor flooded my mind.
“Melinda don’t,” mum said. She stepped in between us as always being the middle man, trying to make sure that we were all trying to get along.
“You know what? It’s not even worth it,” I shook my head.
“Yes, so forget it,” Roman said flatly.
“Forget it?” I laughed. “Yeah, okay. Forget that your eight-year-old daughter had to pick their drunken mother off the floor? Your eight-year-old who had to sit by their mother’s side worried she may choke on her vomit. So don’t tell me to forget it because I never will.”
I stormed off from them not wanting to hear either of their excuses.
Did I need therapy? Most definitely.
I headed straight into the bedroom, shutting the door. I shook my head, falling back on the bed with a huff.
We always ended up in the same fight. A part of me wanted to be the bigger person and forgive both of them for what they had done, but the eight-year-old version of me wanted to be heard and protected.
The memories flooded back almost instantly and I shook my head. “No Melinda, shove that trauma back into the box,” I mumbled to myself.
I reached for my headphones, putting music on and concentrating on trying to get my reading done for the next lot of lectures in a few days.
If I could get ahead, it would help. For the rest of the night, I concentrated on getting my required reading done and making notes. And that was how I fell asleep.
Too soon I was back at work. It wasn’t that I hated my job. It was more about how I hated people.
The service bell dinged with an order. “Mel, order up!” Dave called out from the open hatch.
I headed towards the hatch grabbing the two plates looking at the ticket, I headed to table four and stopped in front of them. “I have Eggs Benedict with ham,” I said.
“Me,” the woman said.
I placed it down in front of her and placed the other plate in front of the person opposite her. “Do you need a refill of your drinks?”
“No, thank you.”
“Lovely, enjoy your meal,” I said with a nod.
I headed back to the counter reaching for the spray bottle and cloth and began to wipe down some empty tables. All of a sudden, I heard a crash. I turned to see smashed glasses and plates on the floor.
“Melinda, clean that.”
I glared at Cindy who was standing over the mess.
“Now! I’m going on break.”
“Whatever happened to please or thank you, dickhead,” I mumbled.
I walked into the store room to grab the cleaning trolley wheeling it in, I got the dustpan and brush cleaning up the spray of shattered glass before depositing it into the black bag attached to the trolley.
I swept up the remaining glass before grabbing the mop and bucket off the trolley and began to mop.
Something crashed into me pushing me forward into the mop bucket and falling to the ground. I felt something heavy land on top of me. “Ow!” I snapped. I felt the heavy presence lift off me and turned to see a man wiping himself down.
“You idiot!”
“Alexander!” I heard someone shout.
“Excuse me!” I stood up ignoring the soaking wet apron I was now wearing spinning around to glare at the man. “You ran into me, maybe you should watch where you’re going and use your walking feet inside like a normal person.”
Anger flashed through his brown eyes as he clenched his fist. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”
I stayed silent trying to keep my temper in check. I wasn’t sure how Daisy would feel with me yelling back at a customer. I clenched my hand into a fist using my nails to keep me centred.
“Are you deaf? I’m talking to you.” His nostrils flared. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”
I stopped closer to him. “Did I not make it clear?” I raised an eyebrow. “You.”
“Do you have any idea who you are talking to you stupid—”
“Alexander,” a voice cut through. “Don’t be rude. Apologise.”
“Why? She’s just a cleaner.”
“Okay, number one, I am not a cleaner. I am actually a waitress where cleaning is a part of my job. Number two, even if I was, you don’t get to look down at me like shit on the floor.”
He stared at me, his mouth falling open as he stepped back.
“Now, if you don’t mind, could you please leave this area, so I can mop the floor to stop it from being a hazard?”
“Alexander, go to the car,” the other man said.
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, a grown man having to be told what to do.
“Jones—”
“Now Alexander, you can not be late for this meeting.” Alexander rolled his eyes but followed this Jones man's direction. “I am truly sorry for his behaviour.”
I shrugged picking the mop and bucket up and began to mop the water up. I was just glad I hadn’t filled the bucket all the way up.
“What’s your name?”
“Melinda Brown. Why?”
“Very nice to meet you, Miss Brown, again I apologise for his behaviour,” the man said. I watched as he walked out the door and I couldn’t help but frown, what interesting people. At least one of them was nice.
I focused on mopping all the water back up before putting it away in the store room. I walked into the kitchen peeling the wet apron off. “I fucking hate people!”
“Girl,” Dave said, appearing from behind the cooker. “Do you have any idea who you just yelled at?”
“Some arrogant dickhead,” I said, clenching my fist slightly.
“He’s the—”
“Nope,” I cut him off. “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to think about that stupid man for a second more.”
Dave just stared at me shaking his head. “Alright, your next order is up.”
I took the order looking at the ticket, seeing it was a booth. “Hi, I’ve got chicken burger and chips,” I said, placing it in front of the woman.
“Thank you so much. Would it be possible to have another Coke Zero please?”
“Absolutely, I’ll just get that for you now,” I said, taking her glass. I placed it on the cubby window getting a fresh glass filling it with Coke Zero before taking it over to the lady. “Here you are.”
“Thank you.”
For the next few hours, I focused on waiting tables and cleaning the booths as we had customers and they left any time anyone tried to talk about the incident I would just walk away.
I didn’t want to hear about it. The man had already ruined my good mood.
The last thing I wanted was to think about it even more.
It would be a situation of the more I thought the angrier I’d get about the whole thing.
“Mel.”
I looked up seeing Megan walking towards me. She sat at the counter and flopped her head down on it.
“Oh, babe, what’s wrong?” I asked leaning my arms next to her.
“I have a bunch of lecture notes I need to decipher.”
“Why did you write them in code?” I asked, confused.
She bit her lip and shrugged. “I wrote them in something. I don’t know. I feel like I’m spiralling a little bit.”
I reached over and patted her arm. “You can talk to me, you know that, right?”
She nodded. “Life is just a little hard right now.” Megan flashed a smile in my direction, “I’ll get there.”
I patted her arm gently. “You got this.”
She lifted her head and pouted, reaching into her bag before placing a piece of paper in front of me. “Do I?”
I picked up the paper and stared. Okay, maybe she doesn’t got this. She had written all of her notes in a spiral but by the time she got to the middle they had begun to overlap on each line. I tried to keep my face neutral as I looked at her.
“You’re doing a terrible job at hiding your thoughts, Mel.”
I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, but damn that’s impressive even if it is a mess.”
“Why did I decide to continue in education? I could have just gotten a job, been earning some dough,” she muttered.
“Because you had a dream—”
Megan chuckled, “You are not Dr. Martin Luther King, do not give me the I have a dream speech.”
I grinned. “That wasn’t where I was going with that but…” I shrugged. “All these hurdles are just little blips in the road for you to get the career you would like.” I gasped. “We should make a mood inspiration kind of board thing.”
She groaned. “Nah, that sounds like effort.” Her phone buzzed and she looked down before flipping her phone over. “Tell me about your day.”
“Oh jeez, Megan, you’re going to get her going again,” I turned to see Dave leaning through the window watching the both of us.
“Excuse me,” a voice cut in.
I looked over to see one of the customers waving their hand in the air. I moved away from Megan making my way over to the table. “Sorry for shouting,” she said sheepishly. “I tried waving for a good five minutes.”
“It’s okay, what can I get you?” I said with a smile.
“Erm, could I have a large Coke and some fries?” the woman asked.
“Absolutely,” I said.
I walked over, grabbing the Coke and bringing it straight over to her. I walked over to the window where Dave and Megan were chatting. “Time to stop the chatting, Chef. You have an order of fries.”
“You think Cindy ever plans to come off break?”
I snorted. “Probably not.”
I don’t know how Cindy became manager because the woman takes more breaks than she does orders. I truly couldn’t wait for Daisy to be back from her honeymoon. It was turning into the longest month of my life. Cindy behaved a tiny bit better when Daisy was around.
“Right. I’m getting back to work, and you, Miss Megan, sit there and try to decipher your notes.”
“Yes captain,” she saluted.
I shook my head, I loved my best friend. She really could make a bad day good again.